READ, SAVE, COOK

This handy guide will navigate you through the main features of Velvet Aroma so that you can quickly start to READ, SAVE and COOK.

If you have any questions that aren't answered here, feel free to reach out to us by sending an email to support@velvetaroma.com or sending us feedback via the Contact Us page.

Let's get started!

To use Velvet Aroma all you need is a modern browser: Internet Explorer 7 or higher, Firefox 3.5 or higher, Safari or Chrome. We don't yet support mobile devices although if you try, some of our features do work. (Don't worry, we understand how hard it is to carry your desktop over to your kitchen so we will be building this soon!)

You can jump to any of the sections of this guide by clicking:

How To Read Websites

Once logged in, you will typically be taken to the 'Read' page. This is where you can read new articles of the websites you love. Here's the 30,000 foot view of everything you can do with the Read page.

  1. The menu is a quick way to move between different pages and features. No matter where you are if you click on the 'Read' button, you will return back to this page. The 'Cook' button takes you to your recipe management section which we'll talk about later.

    Below the 'Read' button you'll see a sub-menu:

    • Displays all articles organized by website like in the picture above.
    • Displays all articles in an aggregate view across all websites ordered by date.
    • Displays a summary of all your websites.
    • Displays all articles that you have clipped.
    • Allows you to manage the websites you want to follow.

  2. The websites you follow to are presented to you in a mouthwatering mosaic of polaroid pictures. At one glance you see all updates to every website you are interested in.

    Each polaroid picture is a single article. Below each picture is the title of the article along with the date it was created. You can scroll through the articles by clicking the arrows next to the website name. The number you see in red on the right of the website name is the number of new articles. The articles you have already read are faded so that you can easily tell which are new.

  3. See an article you want to read further? Simply click on the polaroid! A panel will slide out with the entire article presented exactly the way the author intended you to read it!

    You can resize the panel by dragging the left edge with your mouse.

  4. On the toolbar along the side of the panel you'll find some great tools:

    • Click on the heart to save the recipe you're looking at. You can read more about saving a recipe in the How To Save A Recipe section.
    • Click on the scissors to clip the article you're looking at to read later. You can read more about clipping in the How To Clip An Article section.
    • Click on the Facebook button to share an article with your friends!
    • Click on the Twitter button to send out a tweet about this article!
    • Click on the envelope to share this article via email with your friends and family!
    • Click the expand button to open up the post in a new window.
    • Click the 'x' to close the panel and return to the mouthwatering polaroid view.

How To Use The Cook Section

By clicking the 'Cook' button you'll be taken to a page where you can view recipes you have saved and get to the fun part - Cooking!

  1. Below the 'Cook' menu button you'll see a sub-menu:

    • Create a new cookbook.
    • Import recipes from other websites or add your own. Read more in the How To Save A Recipe section.

  2. The very top shelf has all your cookbooks. Use the arrows on the left to slide through all books. The 'All Recipes' cookbook contains all recipes you have saved. The 'Unfiled Recipes' cookbook contains recipes that you have saved but haven't gotten a chance to organize into any cookbook. The remaining cookbooks are yours to personalize and customize as you want. We've created a few cookbooks to get you started. Feel free to delete them.

  3. Clicking on any cookbook will display all the recipes that have been added to it. Similar to the cookbook shelf, you can use the arrows on the left of the recipe shelf to scroll through the recipes. Click on any one of them to see the entire recipe.

  4. Feel like updating a recipe? Perhaps changing a cookbook's name? You can do all this through the toolbar provided on each cookbook and on each recipe card.

    Each cookbook has a few tools you can use update your cookbooks:

    • [Edit]: You can update the cookbook's name.
    • [Delete]: Deletes a cookbook forever. This cannot be undone. Deleting a cookbook will not delete the recipes inside it. You can always find the recipes in the 'All Recipes' cookbook.

    Each recipe card has a number of tools you can use to organize and edit a recipe:

    • [Edit]: You can update the recipe.
    • [Delete]: Deletes a recipe forever. This cannot be undone.
    • 'Manage Cookbooks' button: Add and remove the recipe from cookbooks. You can always find the recipe in the 'All Recipes' cookbook.

  5. The website where you saved the recipe from is displayed right next to the card for easy reference.

How To Save A Recipe

You can add a recipe to your private collection in 3 different ways:

Saving A Recipe While Reading

You can save a recipe to your own collection from an article while Reading in 3 easy steps.

  1. First click on the in the toolbar next to the article. We will process the webpage. If everything looks right highlight sections of the recipe by selecting parts of the text and clicking the button that indicates what that text is. Click Preview once you're done.

    If the text looks wrong - click on the 'Looks Wrong' button and go to step 2 otherwise proceed to step 3.

  2. If step 1 looks wrong click 'Looks Wrong'. You'll see a window open up where you can copy the text of the recipe from the article into the window like you see below. Click Submit after you're done. You'll then go to step 1 where you can highlight the sections of the recipe.

  3. Finally, review the recipe. You can add the recipe to one or more cookbooks. Click Save once you're done. Your recipe is now saved in your personal collection of recipes! You can read about viewing your cookbooks and recipes in the Cook section.

Import A Recipe From A Website Address (URL)

Velvet Aroma lets you import a recipe directly from a website address (url).

  1. First click on the 'Add Recipe' button in the Cook submenu. This will bring up a dialog.

  2. Enter the URL (website address) for the recipe you are trying to import and click 'Get Recipe'. For example you can enter: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Chocolate-Mousse-Cake/Detail.aspx

  3. Review the recipe, edit if you like and click 'Add Recipe'. You can add the recipe to cookbooks at this point as well. You can always find all your recipes in the 'All Recipes' cookbook. That's it! The recipe is automatically imported into your collection.

Add Your Own Recipe

Through Velvet Aroma you can add your own recipes and family passed down recipes to your own private collection. That way you can save that handwritten recipe as a keepsake and work with your digital copy anywhere, anytime.

  1. First click on the 'Add Recipe' button in the Cook submenu. This will bring up a dialog.

  2. Click 'Fill Form Manually'. This will bring up a form for you to fill out.

  3. Fill the form with details from your own recipe and save.

How To Clip An Article

Clippings allow you to save scrumptous articles you want to read, organize or just find again later. There are two ways that you can clip an article.

  1. You can quickly clip an article by clicking the black scissors on any polariod. You can unclip a post by clicking on the red scissors. A red scissors means the post has been clipped. A black scissors means it has not been clipped yet.

  2. You can also clip an article that you're reading by clicking the scissors located on the toolbar.